“Absolutely.”
He hums, pretending to consider that. “Good to know my legal counsel also doubles as my personal caretaker.”
“I am not your caretaker.”
A pause and then his mouth quirks. “Shame. You seem very invested in my mouth.”
I grab my laptop again a little too fast and a little too aggressive. “Focus. We’re talking about your public image.”
“Right,” he says, leaning back further, completely at ease now. “My public image is more like… ‘guy who kidnapped his kid.’ How exactly are you planning to turn that into something charming?”
“We’ll reverse it… we just have to frame it right.”
“Frame,” he repeats dryly.
“Yeah. You’re a hero. There was lack of supervision. Documented neglect. You’re not the abductor—you’re the rescuer. We’ll argue you had no choice but to save your daughter.”
He looks at me. Really looks at me. No mockery this time—just intense focus. “You’re good at this,” he says.
I stare. A beat. Then I type as if I heard nothing. “Doesn’t surprise me and it shouldn’t surprise you either.”
I act like I’ve got this, but my fingers hit the wrong keys. Great. I delete. Breathe. Focus.
“And you?” he asks after a moment.
“What about me?”
“Why did you become like this?”
I blink. “‘Likethis’?”
“Controlled. Successful. A little scary.”
I snort. “A little scary?” It’s then that I notice that I’m just stupidly repeating his words.
He quirks one corner of his mouth. “Okay. Very.”
I should ignore him. But I don’t. “Discipline,” I say. “And the ability not to get distracted.”
“Never?”
“…Rarely,” I lie.
He gives me a small nod, like I’ve just confirmed something crucial. Whatever that means.
“Tell me about when you first came to the US.” I type nonsense just to look busy—I’m usually not this nervous. “How old were you?”
“Sixteen.”
I type.
“Alone in another country,” I murmur. “No safety net. Major pressure.”
“It was fine.”
I lock eyes with him—his silver-blue gaze so utterly unwavering.
It feels like someone dropped a piece of winter sky into his face. But really, who has eyes like that? I’d probably believe him instantly if he told me he was a werewolf from Mystic Falls.
